Librivox recording of The Wisdom of Father Brown, by G. K. Chesterton

Read by Martin Clifton

This is the second of five books of short stories about G. K. Chestertons fictional detective, first published in 1914. Father Brown is a short, nondescript Catholic Priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella who has an uncanny insight into human evil. His methods, unlike those of his near contemporary Sherlock Holmes, although based on observation of details often unnoticed by others, tended to be intuitive rather than deductive. Although clearly devout, he always emphasizes rationality: despite his religiousness and his belief in God and miracles, he manages to see the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation of the problem. He is a devout, educated and "civilized" clergyman, who is totally familiar with contemporary and secular thought and behavior. His character was though to be based on Father John O'Connor (1870 - 1952), a parish priest in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Summary by Martin)

Chapter 1: The Absence of Mr Glass
Chapter 2: The Paradise of Thieves
Chapter 3: The Duel of Dr Hirsch
Chapter 4: The Man in the Passage
Chapter 5: The Mistake of the Machine
Chapter 6: The Head of Caesar
Chapter 7: The Purple Wig
Chapter 8: The Perishing of the Pendragons
Chapter 9: The God of the Gongs
Chapter 10: The Salad of Colonel Cray
Chapter 11: The Strange Crime of John Boulnois
Chapter 12: The Fairy Tale of Father Brown
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